Steps taken to rid region of major weapons

NEW YORK // Arab leaders celebrated a diplomatic victory today after advancing plans to rid the Middle East of the most destructive weapons and highlighting Israel's suspected atomic arsenal during global anti-nuclear arms talks. At the twice-a-decade review of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on Friday, the 189 signatories agreed to a final document calling for steps towards freeing the Middle East of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The creation of such a zone was agreed on in 1995 but has not been acted upon. This week's outcome declaration calls for the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to organise a meeting of Middle East states in 2012 to agree on the creation of a nuclear and WMD-free region. Agreement came after weeks of fractious debate that threatened to derail the conference, with particular focus on whether the 28-page document mentioned Israel by name - a deal-breaker for Arab states that was resisted by Israel's ally, the United States, until the final hours. The document calls upon Israel, a non-signatory to the NPT and therefore not present, although believed to possess a significant atomic arms stockpile, to join the treaty and open its nuclear sites to the UN's watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Maged Abdelaziz, Egypt's UN ambassador, speaking for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of 118 developing countries, said "we have moved forward and achieved progress in adopting an action plan to push towards" ridding the region of its most destructive arms. Lebanon's ambassador to the UN, Nawaf Salam, speaking for Arab states, described the "need for Israel to join the NPT as a non-nuclear state"; while an Algerian diplomat, Mohammed Belaoura, lauded the "major achievement" after years of stalling. Arab states and Israel's allies had disagreed over wording in the final document, especially the section highlighting "the importance of Israel's accession to the NPT" - a move that would require the Jewish state to scrap its arsenal. Besides Israel's attendance, other important details of a 2012 Middle East conference remain to be worked out, such as where it will take place and whether the talks will lead to formal negotiations on a treaty. Under the document's action plan, the five recognised nuclear-weapon states ? the US, Russia, Britain, France and China - commit to speed up arms reductions, take other steps to diminish the importance of atomic weapons, and report back on progress by 2014. The disarmament action plan inevitably leaves a major gap, since it does not obligate four nations that are not treaty signatories - India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, all of which have or are suspected to possess nuclear arsenals. The conference is convened to review and advance the objectives of the 40-year-old NPT, under which nations without nuclear weapons committed not to acquire them; those with them committed to move toward their elimination; and all endorsed everyone's right to develop peaceful nuclear energy. The last NPT conference, in 2005, failed to adopt a consensus declaration, in part because then US President George W Bush had withdrawn American backing for such non-proliferation steps as ratifying the treaty banning all nuclear tests. President Obama's support for arms-control measures, including a deal with Russia to slash the number of deployed nuclear warheads by about 30 per cent, improved the spirit of cooperation and boosted chances for success, diplomats said. Analysts say the 40-year-old nuclear pact has been weakened by Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme, which Tehran denies, and North Korea's decision to pull out of the treaty in 2003 and subsequent atomic test detonations. jreinl@thenational.ae